Wednesday 29 April 2015

In what way does my media product use, develop and challenge conventions?

My thriller opening challenges conventions as well as use conventions. An example of my opening using conventions is the fact that the victim is female, which is very common in thrillers, for example, the film "Night and Day" consists of a female victim and male hero.

However I did go against conventions in some ways, as my film did not feature any hero at all. this is unusual as there is usually a battle between a protagonist and antagonist when there is disruption of the equilibrium, but in my thriller, the main character is battling herself as this is a psychological thriller.


I also challenged conventions by including a female lead which is uncommon in thrillers.

The shots/ camera angles I chose in my thriller piece use some conventions of thrillers, for example the last shot of my thriller (the low camera angle shot) was inspired by a scene from the film "What Lies Beneath." Although this shot is a low angle shot which usually implies that a character is in charge, it has the opposite effect in both my thriller and "What Lies Beneath" and shows that the character feels uncomfortable and scared.
The music I used in my thriller uses conventions of thrillers as it creates tension because of its slow- slightly off key tune. The strings at the end of the opening also emphasizes the anxiety that the character is feeling. similar music is used in other psychological thrillers such as shutter island.

This character and the character from my thriller are similar in many ways, for example they both lack confidence in themselves and are introverts, these characters are also both psychologically disturbed hence being the main characters in psychological thrillers. Both Nina Sayers and the main character from my thriller are very paranoid for no apparent reason.


I chose this shot to highlight to the audience the importance of the phone. I also thought this shot looked interesting as and conveyed the characters feeling (unsettled) by the awkwardness of the shot and the fact that the characters head isn't in the shot. This shot also creates tension by hiding the characters expression.




I chose this shot to convey how my character is feeling (disorientated) it also creates tension and mystery as the shot is not steady.
An example of a similar shot to this is in the "Bourn" films, where it was used to exaggerate the hectic situation.

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